Show j I 1 N 0 I 1 ait OF 01 tl IE E it J CO COUNTRY PRESS 0 s general smith D atkins editor of the freeport Freo daily journal in a lerding editorial in a recent isu huo u of his paper says wonderful til have been the changes in the business of newspaper making within our reco recollection lection and es specially ally of country newspapers in the olden times the editors of the country weekly newspapers were all practical printers they would set their own t type 1 ape frequently sot set ting up their editorials without committing them to writing stephen D carpenter who established the fairst paper in freeport the prairie democrat was a practical printer and so were AN ere both mr grattan in and air mr mcfadden alio established the tile freeport journal they also printed their own papers themselves on the old fashioned hand presses it is all changed now the old fashioned country editors are passing away they were ablo anal most influx influent tin 1 in their tune it was wits those old fashio fashioned nod country editors of weekly newspapers who in the most critical period in this state 24 saved the state of illinois from the curse of slavery one ove of the old fashioned weekly country newspapers was established at shaw newtown nee town edited by henry eddy one at edwardsville Edwards ville edited by hooper warren one at vandalia edited by david blackwell and for eighteen months from the spring ot of 1823 to the fall of 1824 they thundered against slavery and proclaimed the doctrine of liberty de eating the tile calling 0 of a constitutional convention to establish slav err in ills by the then tremendous majority of nearly 2000 and to those old fashioned country editors of weekly newspapers the people of illinois today owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude after that as the years rolled by taine me the gat great daily papers in the rapidly growing great cities and for prolong a long time they completely shadowed overshadowed in influence the weekly country papers that was anso of the invention of the att t hoo roe printing machine lachine Il run Y yB team costing many thousands collars dollars f which was entirely beloud bem the reach of the publishers 4 of the country woolly newspapers papers N lor many years the great dailies of great cities almost displaced in inoue bence nee the weekly country press t AJ but within the last fn an years i a wonderful cli change alige lias taken ila and arid today the country press in the aggregate is far more influx estial than the great daily papers of the tho great cities this has been beet brought about in many ays but the great change in the country press has in our opinion been brought about almost entirely by the invention of plate matter before that invention become practical ve no experimented in pub publishing lishin 9 a daily paper in freeport and arid we paid for iho die telegraphic news alone full reports of the tile associated press per week and arid we now obtain in type ready for the forms at about one twelfth that sum suin more and better telegraphic news than we then received and arid better than it is now in the great blanket padded dailies of the great cities the invention of plate mat tor ter the country papers from weeklies into dailies and arid now in almost every overy county seat of the counties in illinois and arid in it every little inland city there is generally two and often more daily papers with weekly editions giving ull all the news of all the world and all the local news and they are slowly and surely driving out of circulation in their various localities the great blank blunk d daily a y newspapers of the rn great cities in all these inland cities and andril villages are found fast steam printing presses marvels of ingenuity utility an and d cheapness NN with ith mergenthal thal erand er and typesetting etting machines and spec special I 1 i al telegraphic news service of the news gathered in all parts of the world by he associated press the overgrown non newspapers shapers of the J rge cities may way as well take notice that their finish is in m sight the tile country editor is known personally to all the readers of his paper the country politician no longer waits for the coming of horace greeleys Gre cleys new york tribune to furnish him with political arguments he gets get I 1 S them daily in his own home hoine paper from f roin the man nian ho lie personally knows and believes in as horace greeley was once believed in by the readers of his paper members of coD congress gress and tile legislature nowadays cre crae little what the great padded dailies of the tile great city say but they have wholesome regard for the tile home paper that may inay make or mar war their de destiny stilly the change is alli almost lost here ami and its coming sh should bo ie NN welcomed we would rather bo be n f country editor at a it county seat with a it daily and a it weekly paper known personally to all our readers than to own that great impersonal money making machine the chicago tribune for we like to feel that we are engaged in a business that is higher and better than mere more money mok ing anarchy and arid socialism will never be found where there arc are country newspapers edited by fearless jill and d men known to all their readers it was wits the countr country y editors eliat saved this state from 0 atho o curso of slavery in olden times and andico the country editors will save it from decay socialism and anarchy for tho country papers to go to their readers daily and weekly with the tho perfume of the sweet and find pure country air the cout country itry press is now tiow and it will be mord and more in the f future the great conservative influence that controls the dos des tiny of this state and the nation the writer of tho the foregoing gon general smith D atkins ie a successful editor of many years esperi once conspicuous ability and great influence in his community co coin unity general atkins says what lie thinks and means what he lie says he has a way of calling a spade a spade e which you might infer from tl alie ie above article |